Imran walks the talk, bans Saeed-led JuD

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan seems to have decided to follow Sunil Gavaskar’s advice and walk the talk on terror. Taking the first step in this direction, Pakistan on Thursday banned the 2008 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed-led Jamat-ud-Dawa and its charity wing Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation. The decision is expected to help ward off intense global pressure on Pakistan to rein in the militant groups after the Pulwama terror attack.

A spokesman of the Interior Ministry said that the decision to ban these groups was taken during a meeting of the National Security Committee chaired by Khan on Thursday.

"It was decided during the meeting to accelerate action against proscribed organisations," the spokesperson said in a statement. Earlier, the two outfits were on the watch list of the interior ministry.

The JuD is believed to be the front organisation of the LeT which was responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack that killed 166 people. It was declared a foreign terrorist organisation by the US in June 2014. There is also a USD 10 million reward for information that brings Saeed to justice.

"We need to move to ensure that militancy and extremism are rooted from the society and the State never becomes hostage to extremists," Khan said as he directed both the interior ministry and the security institutions to immediately accelerate actions on ground. The NSC meeting also reviewed the National Action Plan against terrorism in detail. Services chiefs and key ministers were in attendance.